TENNIS PLAYERS (Off-Court Shenanigans)

[meganfernandez]

I think it's still either Seles or Capriati, but Petra certainly deserves an honorable notion. Luckily for her the incident seems to have affected her only in a minor manner (not counting any psychological damage).

I would love to hear a fuller story on what it took for Petra to come back. It think it's easy to underplay it because her results have been good since then, even right away, so we infer that it wasn't all that difficult. She has talked about the racket feeling totally different in her hand, which must have been scary and technically hard to adjust to. She couldn't make a fist - so grip her racket totally - when she came back and that lasted for a while and still might be the case. She has also mentioned that it hurt that people didn't think she could come back. There are a bunch of layers of trauma that we never see. I think it's remarkable and I'd love to hear the whole story.

She is lucky that the knife missed the nerves, I believe.

[meganfernandez]

Does Agassi count? I don’t know that much about him but didn’t he fall out of the game and become a meth head, only to start playing challengers to work his way back up and ended up with another 4 slams? I know that time out doesn’t compare to Seles stabbing, but if his personal problems were due to mental illness I’d say he’s up there

Not sure he became a meth head (Capriati did though - or closer than Agassi). Agassi was doing cocaine before his ranking fell - he failed a drug test and the ATP or whoever buried it. I can't remember if he got addicted to painkillers or anything at some point before his comeback. Yes, his ranking did fall and he played challengers. It is a great comeback.

[ponchi101]

Not a meth-head but in his book he did say he used it once. I don't recall the cocaine story but when the book came out, and he made it clear that the ATP had covered up his case, Nadal and others were fuming; they (I believe correctly so) said that it smeared them as now there would be suspicion that the ATP would cover up cases selectively. Rafa was the most vocal as he was, at the time, frequently being accused of doping (which, of course was not true) by some journals, especially in France.
While I will give Agassi credit for his comeback, the circumstances were very different. They did not involve a major physical injury, or something like Seles or Petra's attacks. So as a comeback, sure, he came back and was better than ever before. As per the situation? No, he dug that hole himself, and that makes it very different from these two women's cases. Again, he was very brave in doing what he did, but not the same.

[ptmcmahon]

I say this with utmost respect, but who would want to have four children

I don't personally know anyone with 4+ kids... Maybe half a dozen families with three including one of my cousins. Indeed it's mostly about cost, but also people start the process up to 10 years later than they used to. Hardly time left for more than two.

Well you know at least one TATer with 4 As for the first question.. I wanted 0 or 2 kids, wife wanted 3 or 4. You can see who won that

Only have one friend who has more that I can think of.

[skatingfan]

Well you know at least one TATer with 4 As for the first question.. I wanted 0 or 2 kids, wife wanted 3 or 4. You can see who won that

I'm sure you put up a fight.

[ponchi101]

My brother wanted no kids. My sister in law wanted two.
I do love both my nieces; they are pretty cool.
Only way for a man to win that split is surgical.

[ptmcmahon]

I did that four kids too late

[ti-amie]

Taylor Townsend gave birth to a son, Adyn Aubrey.

[ponchi101]

Good for her. Let's see when she gets back on court. She did say she would be coming back, right?

[JazzNU]

I'll have to post a picture of her, she's posted several during her pregnancy. Looks adorable.

Yes, she plans on returning. She's been working out during her pregnancy. She was still hitting the ball a few months ago. But when she returns is anyone's guess.

[JazzNU]

This is Taylor several days ago, on the day of her baby shower.

[Fastbackss]

Pregnant women tend to glow; that dress makes it even more pronounced!

[mmmm8]

Agassi tested positive for meth, not cocaine. He used meth for a short while depressed when his ranking dropped and Brooke Shields left him. Agassi is really another case of tennis parent child abuse, but a little bit less talked about because he was a man.

It's all in his great book, Open, which I can't recommend enough (it's co-written with a great writer).

[meganfernandez]

Agassi tested positive for meth, not cocaine. He used meth for a short while depressed when his ranking dropped and Brooke Shields left him. Agassi is really another case of tennis parent child abuse, but a little bit less talked about because he was a man.

It's all in his great book, Open, which I can't recommend enough (it's co-written with a great writer).

Open was really good. I read it ages ago - your memory is better than mine. I do recall some extremely cheesy choice of music while cruising around Vegas in his convertible. Like a song called "Can't Stop the Rain" and how it was so inspiring to him. I just came away from Open thinking he was a pretty cheesy guy. But I like him.

I also think the lack of attention to the parenting abuse was because it was when he was a child, not competing on tour with a monster parent-coach. But also because he's a dude, yeah.

[JazzNU]

I think Agassi is talked about less because I thought most of that stuff came out in the book, and it wasn't well known while he was still playing. Tomic pretends to be a man and a tennis player and there was plenty of attention on his oh so lovely father.

I have a hard time imagining him being a man would matter if Agassi's dad was acting the way Mary Pierce's dad was in the stands.